FILM REVIEW -- `Fishes' Swims to Dark Depths / Poetic film is both harsh and humorous

MICK LaSALLE, Chronicle Staff Critic

Published 4:00 am, Friday, July 11, 1997

DREAM WITH THE FISHES: Comedy/drama. Starring Brad Hunt and David Arquette. Directed by Finn Taylor. (Not rated. 97 minutes. At the Lumiere.)

'Dream With the Fishes" is a film in its own category. It's not a drama or a comedy. It's neither realistic nor surreal. It's a piece of poetry that, at times, is harsh and ugly. The film is both dark and light but somehow always true to itself.

The picture marks a strong debut for Bay Area director Finn Taylor, who shows that a talent for the elliptical doesn't preclude a dramatic sense. "Dream With the Fishes" often seems to be drifting from one incident to another, but there's always something to be tense about. The tension might come from the possibility of violence between the characters or from a mystery that needs to be resolved.

The opening sequence is typical. Two men meet when one is about to throw himself off the Bay Bridge. The suicidal man, Terry (David Arquette), wears a suit and tie. The man who talks him down -- by promising to sell him a "big bottle of pills" -- is Nick (Brad Hunt), a street tough who could be either a drug dealer or an armed robber.

The tension comes from our wondering what Nick's motive is. He asks Terry if he can watch him commit suicide. "What does it feel like to know you're about to die?" he says. It's only later that the reason for his attitude, a weird mix of amusement and sadistic contempt, becomes clear. Terry is dabbling in death like a dilettante, while Nick is the one who is, in fact, looking death in the face.

"Dream With the Fishes" is perfectly comprehensible, but a second viewing brings out its subtle layers. As Nick, who's dying of an unnamed disease, Hunt is brilliant -- fierce yet mildly amused at his own desperation, fearless yet vulnerable, and always on the move. He's out to devour as much of life as he can get his hands on.

Terry agrees to bankroll Nick's fantasies, to go with him on a two- or three-week blast. But a nice touch in "Dream With the Fishes" is that very little of what the men do looks like any fun. Nick gets naked and bowls in an empty alley with two prostitutes. It's more bleak than anything else.

Nothing is simple in "Dream With the Fishes." The relationship between Nick and his girlfriend (Kathryn Erbe) is loving yet emotionally unhealthy. It seems inevitable that Nick and Terry will bond, but their path is unexpected. Almost until the end neither seems on solid ground with the other.

The picture emerges as the story of Terry's regeneration. Arquette's acting is bizarre -- his delivery is tentative, his gestures spastic. But it eventually resolves into a performance that makes sense. Like the film itself, Arquette's chance-taking pays off.